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Deforestation and pollution

Click the image to the right to view the Count the Costs environment briefing.

One of the frequently overlooked costs of the war on drugs is its negative impact on the environment – mainly resulting from aerial spraying of drug crops in ecologically sensitive environments such as the Andes and Amazon basin. Chemical eradication efforts not only cause localised deforestation, but also have a devastating multiplier effect because drug producers simply deforest new areas for cultivation – the so-called 'balloon effect'. This problem is made worse because protected areas in national parks where aerial spraying is banned are often targeted.

Illicit unregulated drug production is also associated with localised pollution, as toxic chemicals used in crude processing of coca and opium are disposed of in local environments and waterways.

Despite millions of hectares of coca being eradicated since the 1980s, overall production has easily kept pace with rising demand – even if it has moved from one region to another

"600 million litres of so-called precursor chemical are used annually in South America for cocaine production. To increase yields, coca growers use highly poisonous herbicides and pesticides, including paraquat. Processors also indiscriminately discard enormous amounts of gasoline, kerosene, sulphuric acid, ammonia, sodium bicarbonate, potassium carbonate, acetone, ether and lime onto the ground and into nearby waterways"– John Walters, US Drug Tsar(1)

"The drug war has tried in vain to keep cocaine out of people’s noses, but could result instead in scorching the lungs of the earth."

A report showing that the indoor cannabis-growing industry – which is an unintended consequence of current punitive drug control measures – results in unnecessarily high energy use and, consequently, a larger carbon footprint than outdoor growing.

The International Harm Reduction Association considers the consequences of drug crop eradication, a practice that causes considerable environmental damage and threatens the livelihoods of indigenous farmers.

Witness for Peace report on the devastating impact crop eradication has had on Colombia, after a decade of fumigation. The authors outline how fumigation has contributed to the increase in coca plantation, has destroyed farmers' food crops, negatively affected human health and lead to deforestation of the rainforest. Overall it has been a failed operation and calls for a new strategy are insisted upon.